Need advice on 2011 15" MBP Purchase

[ELA2]

Hi All,

I'm about to purchase a new 15" MBP. The specs are as follows:

2.3GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display
None
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide

My biggest dilemma is in regards to buying a 256gb SSD. Should I purchase an apple SSD or go for a 6G OWC Mercury Extreme? I really want to know if any problems I would expect in getting a faster SSD or should I just stick with the slower stock toshiba knowing that everything is going to play well together?

Additionally, with the above specs and stock HDD, has anyone seen a price lower than $2539 outside of Texas? I'm entitled to an education discount only thing is that I would love NOT paying sales tax. Will any other vendors outside of Apple give an education discount or match this price?

Thanks to all in advance!

 

[Hellhammer]

I haven't seen any issues reported about the new 6Gb/s OWC Mercury but obviously the Apple SSD is a safer choice. In normal usage, you won't notice any difference between them.

 

[Legion93]

If you want quality SSD, go with OCZ vertex III, read/write speeds are unmatched and performance is incredible. I would also consider the intel SSD G3.

 

[alust2013]

Pass on the RAM upgrade through Apple. It's easily twice what you can do it for yourself. You can buy RAM from OWC as well as the SSD.